Electric switch



(No Model.) H

, P. BALL. ELECTRIC SWITCH.

No. 537,665. Patented Apr. 16, 1895.

ens co. PHofduYubJusmNnron u c so STATES HENRY PRICE BALL, OE BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE THOMSON-HOUSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,665, dated April 16, 1895.

Application filed October 19, 1894:- Serial No. 526 ,339- (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Peron BALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of Connectiout, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Switches, as set forth in the following specification.

My invention relates to electric switches and particularly to those designed to rupture [O pircuits carrying currents of considerable volage.

It relates also more especially to snap switches of the knife-blade type, and is an improvement upon the switch described in my Patent No. 494,750, issued April 4, 1893. In

the patent described I employ twoblades connected by a spring one of which could be angularly displaced a certain distance from the other before moving the second blade. This construction I use in the invention disclosed in this application. In the patent, however, the two blades are provided upon their ends with lugs registering and forming the joint between them, a pin passing through the lugs and uniting the blades, which work upon it as a center. This construction I have found objectionable, inasmuch as it involved using material of such size as to include the blade and the lug in. the width. It is the purpose c of the present invention more particularly to avoid this expense of metal and to make the blades of bar material of just sufficient width for the blade itself. This I accomplish by the new and improved joint shown and described herein, which is the particular subject of the invention. This joint embraces a pivot bearing in the edge of each blade in the form of a sector of a circle, a sector of a circular groove in the side of each blade concentric with the pivot having a conducting ring located in the sections of the circular groove, with the adjoining edges of the vertical blades lying in contact and a pivot pin or bolt on which the sector of a circle bearing rests and on which the blades turn. The insulating ring prevents longitudinal displacement of the blades and suitable plates and springsin connection with the pivot pin or blades prevent horizontal displacement, as hereinafter specified.

The accompanying drawings show an em- 0 bodiment of my invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly broken away; Fig. 2, an enlarged sectional plan of the joint; Fig. 3, an enlarged side elevation of the ends of the two blades; Fig. 4:, an enlarged perspective of the ring, and Fig. 5 a side elevation showing a two-way switch of my improved construction.

C is the base to which the switch is attached.

A, B are the two blades of the switch. N is 6: the spring uniting them. F is a terminal of the switch provided with the cable-terminal G, the joint itself constituting the other terminal and being provided also with asimilar cable-terminal G. D is the handle, and E is an insulating ring between the handle and the switch blade preventing contact of the operator with the live portion of the switch. All of these parts so far described are old and well known.

Referring now to Figs. 2, 8 and 4, H is a ring preferably of good conducting material designed to fit in the sectors of a circular groove J milled out of the two blades A and E, as best shown in Fig. 3. The edge of each blade is formed atits hinged end with a pivot bearing in the form of asector of a circle and resting on the pivot pin I.

M, M are two plates, also of good conducting material, with which the blades of the So switch make contact. These plates, as usual, have a little flexibility. They are forced to get-her by means of the pin or bolt I, and the customary disked springs L, L engage between the heads of the bolt and the plates M, M, so as to allow the joint to make good contact and yet be free to move.

Fig. 5 illustrates the adaptation of my improved switch mechanism to a two-way switch, such as that described in the patent to Edward 0 M. Hewlett, No. 524,384, issued August 14, 1894. In this case it is apparent that a part of the groove must be upon each of the three. blades to be joined, but the construction is readily understood from the drawings, and requires no further description.

The improved joint I have shown enables me to construct the blades A, B, of a straight bar of metal just the width of the blade itself. The joint is readily and economically made, affords good electrical contact, and is in many ways an improvement over the joints of other switches known to me.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. An electric snap switch comprising terminals to be united or disconnected, hinged blades connected by a spring, a pivot bearing in each blade in the form of asector of a circle, a sector of a circular groovein each blade concentric with the pivotal point, a conducting ring located in the sectors of the circular groove, and means for retaining the ring in position and the adjacent edges of the blades in contact.

2. An electric snap switch comprising; terminals to be united and disconnected, a pair of hinged blades connected by a spring, and each formed with a pivot bearingin the form of a sector of a circle, and a sector of a circular groove concentric with the latter, a conducting ring located in the said sectors of a circular groove, and means for holding the ring in place.

3. An electric snap switch of the knife blade form, consisting of hinged blades, each having a pivotal bearing in the form of a sector of a circle, and a sector of a circular groove concentric therewith, a pivot pin, a conducting ring located in the said sectors of the circular groove, conducting plates on the sides of the blades with which said blades make contact, and springs holding the plates in contact with the blades.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of October, 1894:.

HENRY PRICE BALL.

Witnesses:

C. E. CARPENTER, B. B. HULL. 

